Azerbaijan to Buy Boeing-737 MAX Aircraft for $1B

April 14–Azerbaijan’s Silk Way Airlines and the US aerospace company Boeing have signed a contract for the purchase of ten passenger aircraft Boeing-737 MAX.

The document was signed in Baku on Apr. 14 by President of Silk Way Holding Zaur Akhundov and Senior Vice President of Boeing company Marty Bentrott.

The ceremony of the document’s signing was attended by the President of Azerbaijan Airlines CJSC (AZAL) Jahangir Askerov and US Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Azerbaijan Robert Cekuta.

Total cost of the contract is about $1 billion.

Based on preliminary discussions with the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM Bank), the purchase of aircraft will be financed without state guarantees for the first time in the history of Azerbaijan’s civil aviation.

It should be noted that the agreement on the supply of modern Boeing-737 MAX aircraft to Azerbaijan was reached in the summer of 2016 during the Farnborough International Airshow 2016 in the UK.

The first two aircraft of the newest generation will be delivered to Azerbaijan by the end of 2018, and the rest — until the end of 2020.